EPIC General Membership
Meeting
Minutes 1/10/2008
The
next EPIC meeting is:
Thursday, February 14th, 2008 @ 6:30 PM
Holy Rosary
Church
2424 18th
Ave. S.
Enter
door on 18th Ave. side under the “OFFICE” sign.
EPIC Board Members Present:
Rosie Cruz (RC), Carol Pass
(CP), Linda Leonard (LL), Aden Awil
(AA), Juliet Thompson (JT), Mary Gonsior (MG), Sherzad Kordian (SK), Earl Simms
(ES), Paul Wichmann (PW)
EPIC Members Present:
Brad Pass (BP), Jennifer
Bjorgo (JB), Shirley Heyer (SH), Bruce Singer (BS), Ron Moey (RM), Margaret
Kirkpatrick (MK), Kendra Allen (KA), Amy Pass (AP), Chiffon Williams (CW)
Guests Present:
Scott
Vreeland (SV), Leah Seelhoff (LS), Mark redicker (MR), Marcus Moore (MM),
Harvey Winje (HW), Gary Schiff (GS), Doug Vanderveen (DV).
CP chaired and called the meeting to order at
6:40 PM - Introductions.
MOTION: EPIC
moves to accept the agenda. Motion
Passed
MOTION: EPIC
moves to accept the November 8th 2007 General Membership meeting minutes. Motion
Passed.
Announcements and Reports:
·
Public Hearing
(Community Action Committee) meeting on the East Phillips Park Cultural and
Community Center-All Welcome!! Come see the Building Plans Jan. 24th
at 7:00 PM at Holy Rosary Basement.
·
Link to the see
the Park Center Plans: East Phillips Park Cultural and Community Center on the
LHB Web site: http://www.lhbcorp.com/government/pf1.html
· Community/Law Enforcement Action Network(Clean
Sheets): http://www.walterleegutzmer.com/
· Forum on Minneapolis Comprehensive Plan – how the city
relates to neighborhoods - at Lake Hiawatha Community Center, 2701 44th
St. Changed from 10 am to 2 pm, this Saturday. Give your input on how the city
intends to relate to the Neighborhoods
· Last call for letters pro/con for the Midtown Eco
Energy Biomass Plant , Monday, January 14th.
Contact: Paula Connell, 651-282-2605, email: paula.connell@pca.state.mn.us
Revisiting The Biomass Plant:
CP After initial presentations
from Kandiyohi Development on their proposed Biomass Co-Generating plant to be
located at the old City incinerator site behind Dalsin Roofing and behind
Pioneer Cemetery, EPIC initially supported the project. A local biomass power
plant and district heating plant which would help reduce the carbon footprint
of the area and help provide oil independence sounded like a good idea. EPIC
wrote a letter of support for the project and signed a “Good Neighbor
Agreement” with Kandiyohi Development Partners (KDP).
However,
as residents became more aware of the particulates and pollution the plant
would deposit on the neighborhood, many people started having second thoughts,
State Rep. Karen Clark was among them. EPIC decided to do independent
research and make a determination based on available facts as to whether or not
the Biomass Plant would be a good idea for the community.
People
were alarmed by the following findings:
ü According to the MPCA’s proposed environmental permit,
the facility could release up to one million pounds of particulate matter into
the air above this community every year.
ü These particulates would include lead, mercury, sulfur
dioxide, arsenic, PAHs and others, many carcinogenic.
ü According to the MPCA findings,
“The Midtown district energy facility will be a major source of hazardous air pollutants” for
the neighborhood.
ü There are reports that the available clean waste wood
fuel supply may not be adequate which according to State Law could permit the
facility to burn up to 30% Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF – garbage) without
additional permits. They claim they won’t do that. We would have no way to
know. GNA doesn’t require reporting.
ü The community already has many sources of pollution –
Dalsin Roofing with their hot tar storage, Bituminous Roadways with their
asphalt plant and asphalt hot storage, Smith Foundry, the Arsenic Triangle
Super Fund site and the high levels of lead in local homes and yards as a
result of past leaded gasoline and lead based paint.
This
along with the fact that there are no studies of the cumulative affect
all these sources of pollution on our health, led the EPIC Board to vote to
recommend rescinding support for the Plant and question the Good Neighbor
Agreement with Kandiyohi Developers and to recommend that the EPIC membership
do the same.
It should be noted that the Green Institute’s “Comments
on Midtown Eco-Energy Biomass
Facility Permit Application” became available to the EPIC Board after the above recommendation was made. As such it
played no part in our decision.
LL All previous public meetings on
the biomass plant were scheduled on the second Thursday of the month – the same
time the EPIC meetings have always been scheduled. This prevented the EPIC
members from attending either one or the other meeting. That is why the EPIC
Board voted to cancel the December EPIC General Membership meeting. This
enabled many EPIC members to participate in the last biomass public meeting.
AA If this plant will produce so
much pollution, why is the City of Minneapolis not against it?
GS The City was told one thing by
the developers. The City relies on the Pollution Control Agency (PCA) to set
limits.
The
developers must have three things in order for the City to sell them the land:
1) A Power Purchase Agreement (PPA)
2) A Good Neighbor Agreement with EPIC, and
3) PCA approval.
At
this time, the developer does not have a PPA.
PW The agreement to sell the land
states that the Good Neighbor Agreement may not be necessary if the neighborhood
is found to be acting capriciously.
GS The neighborhood is not being
capricious – I think it is being responsible.
MOTION: JT EPIC
rescinds any and all former endorsements of the Midtown EcoEnergy Biomass Plant
project,
Furthermore,
EPIC will actively participate in opposition to the establishment of the Biomass
plant,
Furthermore,
Given that there has not been a level of disclosure protective of the East
Phillips Community, we do not believe there is sufficient confidence for the
EPIC organization to continue as a signatory on the Good Neighbor Agreement
with Kandiyohi. For this reason EPIC withdraws
its signature from this agreement. JT Moved.
MG Seconded. No one
opposed. BP Abstained.
Super
America:
CP Minneapolis Licensing held a
meeting today with Members of the community, CCP SAFE, the Third Precinct and
SA management. The goal was to convince SA that they must improve their
performance as a neighborhood convenience store or face license revocation.
In
the end, SA agreed to work with the Community and the Council Member to address
a long list of “Suggestions” which was compiled with community input.
SA
reported that they have police presence Fri. Sat. and Sun. nights and have a
roving cop driving from SA location to SA location in addition.
In
the past, SA verbally asked the Police to be more “aggressive” in their
approach to controlling illegal activity on their premises. They learned that
the police they hire are not being proactive enough and will seek a written
agreement with the police outlining mutual expectations.
LS Gas Pump and parking lot
congestion is awful. Try to figure out how to make traffic flow better and
safer.
CP Are you committed to leaving in
Five years?
SA
There are size problems and
that prevents this store from meeting the core strategy of SA. At present, we
will probably leave within that time frame.
DV As a close neighbor, I am not
interested in seeing this store cycle between barely acceptable and horrific. I
am adamant that the store close.
GS A boarded building is also a
problem.
DV A vacant lot cannot be as bad
as SA.
MG SA has an obligation to provide
security three nights a week – that’s nice but it doesn’t make it safe the rest
of the time. SA is not doing enough.
JT You need to do something about
the litter and keep the store clean.
PW As long as you are planning to
leave in five years, why not leave now?
East Phillips
Park Cultural and Community Center:
BP The $3.25 million funding that
CLIC had recommended over two years for the project evaporated to $319,000. If
asked, the Mayor would say that the funding is there in the budget – but the
city “gave” the park board their own Tax Levi dollars, - dollars the PB relies
on for maintenance and repair of all eighty some city parks and said, ‘here, use
this for East Phillips’. East Phillips values the city park system and would
not recommend stopping roof repair and water heater replacement on other parks
for our project. Apparently the Mayor would.
To
counter this loss, the Design Team in cooperation with the MPRB is creating a
partnership of community corporations, foundations, nonprofits and individuals
which will raise money for the bricks and mortar of the buildings as well as
the ongoing operating costs of the community center. Everyone is invited to
contribute, contact CP at EPIC for details (612-280-8418).
Crime Issues:
GS Vacant and Boarded Foreclosures are increasing alarmingly. They
are bad here but much worse in North Mpls.
2846 17th Ave. S. shooting. JT called police three times about serious
trouble at this address BEFORE the shooting. What does it take to make a
difference?
GS
The right people didn’t get
the information. Call Gary Schiff at 612-673-2209 or Don Greely at
612-673-3482. The neighbors all knew but were unable to get 911 or 311 to
respond. This is very frustrating. GS “I
want to find out what and who screwed up.”
CP 2625 Bloomington is the same.
Greenway
Town Homes 2931 Bloomington:
CP
This townhome development on the North side of the Midtown Greenway East
of Bloomington Ave is about to break ground – but – it needs people who might
be interested in a very affordable town Home similar to those on 24th
St between Bloomington and 17th Ave. S., to indicate their interest.
This will not commit youin any way to anything. It only tells the builder and
the lender that there is interest in this project. If there are enough
interested people in this project it can become reality. If not, the land might
be sold to someone else who might build 80 efficiency transient apartments in a
six story building without adequate parking – as was planned before.
If
you are interested and can afford the payments,
please call Carol Pass @ 612-916-8478 and complete at non-binding form which will help to secure the property
and prevent the consequences.
Updates
on other developments:
CP
2603 Bloomington Ave project has been minimalized to the point
that zoning variances are not required. Therefore the project will proceed as
the property owners wish.
Open Arms at 25th and Bloomington is still raising money for this wonderful project. If
you wish to donate, contact EPIC at 612-280-8418.
Franklin
Station Condos: are a very
affordable housing option for those who value inner-city living in a reviving
community. Ground –breaking is imminent and if you have an interest, in this
buyers market, Contact Carol Pass 612-280-8478.
Future
Neighborhood Funding:
CDBG
cut funding to neighborhoods NRP funding. They propose that neighborhoods
‘compete’ for very limited funds - they propose only $2 million for 80 (eighty)
neighborhoods.
At
the same time, the city wasted $10 million on convention scheduling software
which they farmed out to a Singapore company which took the City of Minneapolis
for a $10 million ride.
Adjourned
at 8:45 PM Submitted
by Brad Pass on 2/3/2008
Reviewed
by Linda Leonard on 2/3/2008
Approved
by EPIC GMMM on
